A Tough Start
by MysticalBambi
Summary: My name is Scarlett. When I was seventeen, I fell through the Rift and ended up at the Torchwood Institute in Cardiff. Struggling to cope with being away from friends and family, I needed help to adapt to my new life.


**A Tough Start**

**Notes: **_Italic _means that she is talking about memories. No italics mean that she is talking about events that happened after she fell through the Rift. I decided to use the first paragraph as my summary as well as my opening as I thought it would make a nice summary :D

My name is Scarlett. When I was seventeen, I fell through the Rift and ended up at the Torchwood Institute in Cardiff. Struggling to cope with being away from friends and family, I needed help to adapt to my new life.

_I was born in a firebending tribe and I was a popular girl there too. The tribe wasn't massive like the others. There was about twenty of us altogether and even though we were the smallest tribe, we were the most successful. We were all very close and we all believed in each other's abilities which helped when danger was around. Even though I was one of the youngest, I was the one who led the tribe when disaster hit and that's why I was popular with everyone._

_There were four tribes – Fire, Water, Earth and Air. What one succeeded at, the others didn't fare so well. One day, the Earth tribe decided to attack and capture some members of our close knit group. They managed to capture two of our strongest members. They may not have been the best at combat but the ones that were captured were the strategists. Three of my friends and I decided to go and take them back. We were the strongest fighters out of the whole tribe. My dad (who was the ultimate leader) decided that everyone who could fight would go and help and anyone who couldn't would stay. Everyone agreed to that plan._

_That meant that fifteen members of our tribe went to fight whilst the remaining three stayed and defend the camp as best they could. It didn't matter to us if we lost the camp and that's why so few stayed. The only thing that mattered was getting part of our family back._

_I got injured in battle and got sent back to the camp, by my father, to recover. An Earthbender had me trapped against the wall with a huge piece of Earth that she had summoned. To brace the impact, I put my arm in front of my chest and that got nearly broken as a result. Whilst I was running back, this white light surrounded me and there was nothing I could do. I thought it was the Water tribe and they had come to our aid (as they had the best healing powers) but it wasn't and I got taken away._

That was a dream to me. I realised that I was reliving my past through my dreams. I forced myself to awake and open my eyes.

I found myself in a place that looked nowhere like I'd seen before. It was like I was being kept in a cell with a ladder at the other end. The walls and ceiling were completely bare which gave me the impression of a cell. I looked at myself to find what I was wearing. I was wearing an ember red crop top that had the pattern of many flames on (to represent that our tribe work very well together), whilst wearing shorts that had the same pattern on. I had a dark brown material that wrapped my legs in a criss-cross sort pattern from knees and went down to my ankles. I was also bare foot. In my tribe you were either bare foot or you wore some sandals. I never liked the sandals which was why I never wore them. My hair was raven black and and happily rested and my shoulders.

'_At least they've left a drink for me.' _ I thought to myself as I noticed the glass. I knew what glass was supposed to feel like but I had never seen such a thing until now.

That was when a man came down and introduced himself to me. He was wearing a light blue shirt with another white top underneath whilst wearing black trousers with light brown boots on.

"You ok?" He asked me with a gentle voice. I had never seen this man before and my father used to always say to me that to always keep my guard up if I was in an unfamiliar place. And that's what I did.

"Yea I'm fine." I kept my chestnut brown eyes locked on with his to try and find out what he wanted but I couldn't see anything. That was unusual.

"Name's Jack Harkness." I could tell that he was going to ask for my name but there was no way that I was going to tell this man my real name. I decided to give a fake one and use it. At least until I knew I was safe. In my world, you have no idea how powerful names are. Names could turn wars, win battles, make armies surrender and go home.

"Amber." I lied. I was a very good liar and I don't think he suspected anything.

"Climb up this ladder and give me a shout if you want anything." He said as he left the room and climbed the ladder.

I then remembered that I had hurt my arm and decided to look at it. It was sore but I don't think that any severe damage had been done. My mother had taught me how to know how bad an injury was. It was probably going to be sore for a few days but nothing more.

I decided to climb up the ladder and take a look around.

"Ok I'm here! What is it that you want?" I angrily went round, asking everyone and anyone who would listen. I also had the reputation for being fiery and full of fight at times.

"What do you mean Amber?" Jack asked me. He had three people (two females and a male) with him but I didn't recognise any of them either.

"You take me out of my time during a battle that I was fighting in and now I'm somewhere where I don't know what the hell is going on!"

"This isn't our fault." Jack calmly replied back.

"Then is anyone going to explain to me what's going on then?" My leader instinct kicked in and I started taking charge.

"You fell through a crack in time and space and ended up here." The second male told me bluntly. I then went silent as I exactly knew what he meant. There had been legends about that and I learnt them when I was a young girl. Years before I got involved in conflict.

"I know what you're talking about now. There were legends about a crack in time and space that takes people and objects of importance. A girl got taken when I was born and all the signs were there. But that means… No." I realised that there was no way I was going to back home. I just went to where there was a seat on my own, sat down and came to terms with what had happened.

_Gwen's POV_

I was looking at some readings that Owen had taken which proved that Amber was the girl we were looking for when she came out of Jack's office. A few hours ago, Tosh detected rift activity in a warehouse nearby. We found Amber in pretty good condition but she was unconscious so we got her back to the Hub and into Jack's room so she wouldn't be surrounded by people when she wakes up.

"That's a first." Owen commented after Amber went to the sofa.

"What is?"

Jack answered my question, "When kids fall through the rift they usually don't remember anything that happened before they fell through."

I decided to go over to comfort her. She was sat with her knees up to her chest with her head hiding in between. Her hands were over her knees, keeping them in place.

"Hey sweetheart. Would you like a drink or anything?" I said as I crouched down. That usually worked with kids that were upset. I didn't want Amber feeling any more threatened than she may be now.

"No thanks. Who am I best talking to about this?" She had gone from being full of fire to being so vulnerable.

I was stuck there. Jack was the first person who came to mind as I knew he wasn't from this time.

"Would you like to talk to Jack? He might be able to help."

"If you think that'd be best." She had calmed down now but it was still clear that she was distraught at what's happened.

"Jack!" I shouted. He came without needing to be asked twice. He was down on his knees in the blink of an eye.

"Amber wants to talk to you. Do you want me to take every one of the Hub for a bit? Might help her if there's only you that's all. "

"Yea. I'll call you if I need anything thanks Gwen."

I followed my boss' orders and gathered everyone together to leave the Hub for a while.

_Scarlett's (Amber) POV_

"Do you want a drink?" Jack asked me with the same calmness he had before.

I just nodded. He went to get the drink of water from his office and gave it to me.

"Here. Have a bit of this." He encouraged whilst I took a sip.

"You can say whatever you want to me. No one else will know if you don't want them to."

"Thanks Jack. I'm just finding it difficult to think that I won't see my friends and family anymore that's all. We were just a really close knit group."

"Were you a powerful fire bender?"

"How did you know about that?"

"I've read legends and stories about four different tribes. All different shapes and sizes and by the clothes you're wearing, I'm assuming you were part of the fire tribe."

"I still am. I just can't go back. As long as I have my memories, I'm still part of that."

"Of course." I am so happy he understood that.

"What happens now? I have no relatives in this world and nowhere to go."

"Which is why I would like you to stay here. Because of your age, you need a guardian, someone to look after you."

"You'd really do that?"

He held my hand and answered, "I'm not from this time and I know how it feels to have no one. I didn't come from a tribe or anything like that but, nonetheless, I know what you're going through."

I put my arms around him and gave him a hug in thanks. I had never felt so understood. I felt so lucky to end up in the here. I knew I was safe here now which meant I could give him my true name. I pulled away and revealed this to him.

"When I was twelve, and allowed to go into battles, my dad taught me something. That was that if I was in an unfamiliar place where I didn't know anyone, to come up with a name either until I got out of there or until I felt safe. My real name is Scarlett not Amber."

"Ok. Your father's right and I'm happy that you feel safe Scarlett." He kept an arm around me, with his hand on the side of my stomach.

"Did you hurt yourself coming through the rift?"

"While I was in a battle, I got trapped against a wall and hurt my arm as a result. I don't think it's broken. Probably just sore for a few days."

"Can I check it anyway, just to be safe?"

I nodded my head and he lead me to a room with crystal white tiles everywhere. He sat me down and started to check my arm. He asked me to tell him if my arm hurts whilst he moves it. It was more my forearm that felt the full force of being trapped.

He then got what looked like a scanner of some kind and explained what it was to me. He said it was a machine that could look at my body and then he could see if anything was unusual. He explained that Owen (the man who told me what had happened) often used it if anyone had been injured to check if anything had been broken. All I needed to do was place one of my hands on it and it would scan my whole body.

I did what Jack asked and what came up proved that what my mother had taught me was true. All my bones were intact. I then realised that I hadn't tested my fire ability yet.

"Jack? Is there anywhere I can see if my firebending still works?"

"Yea. You could go down to the firing range in the lower levels. I'll take you there now if you want."

"Please."

Jack then led me down to the firing range and told me I could aim for the cardboard targets. I was better at close range combat but I could strike from afar if needed.

I fisted my hands, focused my thoughts on the target and pushed my hands forward through the air and a fireball came out just the way I could. As soon as I felt the fire leave my hands and saw it hit the target, I was so relieved. I felt a tear come down my face as I couldn't control how relieved I was.

"You okay?" Jack walked and wrapped an arm around me.

"Yea I'm just so relieved that the rift hadn't taken this away from me. I was scared that it did."

We just stood in silence as he kept hold of me as I calmed down. My firebending made me who I am and I just wouldn't have allowed it to be taken from me.

Jack then decided that I needed to get some rest and he would call the others back in or let them go home.

"Where am I sleeping?"

"I'll sleep on the sofa and you can take my bed or I could sleep on the floor in the same room as you if you want."

"Second option. Do you sleep much or… It's just that I don't need much sleep."

"No. I don't need much either so we could always talk if you can't get to sleep."

I thanked Jack and made my way back up to the higher levels whilst Jack called Gwen to say that everything was ok and everyone could come back or go home.

_Gwen's POV_

I got the message from Jack through the comms and he said that they could go home if they wanted. I left my bag at the Hub so I needed to go back anyway.

"Is anyone else going the Hub?" I asked as everyone finished their drinks. If anyone else was going back to the Hub I could give them a lift.

"I am." Ianto answered. Everyone else said that they were just going to go straight home.

"I'll give you a lift. See you tomorrow guys."

"Later!" Owen called out followed by Tosh saying, "See you tomorrow." I assumed Owen was giving Tosh a lift.

Ianto got into the passenger seat of my car and told Jack that we were coming back and that Tosh and Owen decided to go straight home.

"Is Amber alright?"

"Long story short, she's fine. She's getting some sleep at the moment but I'm going to hold a meeting tomorrow to update everyone." I heard Jack through my earpiece.

We were only round the corner so it didn't take us long to get back. We took my car because it was chucking it down with rain.

_Scarlett's POV_

_I was back at my camp. My mother and father were there with my baby sister, Rosalina. My mum gave birth to a beautiful baby girl about a fortnight prior to me going missing. _

_It was the evening before I was due to go into battle with my fellow warriors. My final day in the tribe. Of course, at the time, I wasn't aware of that. I was holding my baby sister as all the tribe gathered to have a bonfire and to have a good time. We always did that on the eve of a battle to loosen everyone up and get rid of any tension. It was a tradition that had been in the tribe since the beginning._

_Suddenly my sister faded away in my arms followed by everything else. The whole world went black and that's when I awoke._

I woke up with a gasp and started to cry with fear at what I had just seen. Jack was instantly at my side and was holding on to me to calm me down.

"Scarlett! You okay?"

I just grabbed onto his arm and continued sobbing as I tried to forget what I just tried to forget what had just happened. I had one hand on his shoulder and one wrapped around his forearm.

"My past…"

"Shh shh. It's okay." He whispered in my ear as he gently rocked me back and forth to continue calming me down.

After all my tears had fallen I managed to get talking, "Thanks Jack. You've done so much for me just today."

"You don't need to thank me. I'm always here if you need me."


End file.
